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player ready...`I have not been to Africa yet, only in my mind,” says Quraysh Ali Lansana. “But I’m working on it. I want to get to Ghana to do some studying. I have a plan to be on the continent at the turn of the millennium.”
In the meantime, though, Africa filters through his work — whether writing or teaching. Lansana, who has spent eight years as an artist and educator in the Chicago Public Schools doing everything from visual arts to black history presentations, uses Africa as his starting and ending point, as the cradleland of all human creativity.
A longtime activist in the local arts community as well, Lansana is perhaps most known for his association with the Guild Complex, an arts organization that hosts forums and book release parties, among other events. Lansana is usually the host.
Not so next Wednesday night, however. This time, when the Guild parties, it’ll be in celebration of Lansana’s first full-length book of poetry, “southside rain” (Alexander Press). Joining Lansana — and reading their favorites of his work — will be Mark Turcotte, Christopher Stewart, Glenda Afua Baker, J.M. Morea, Mario, and Lansana’s wife, Emily Hooper Lansana. They’ll be celebrating past work, and Lansana will read from the new writings.
“Because of the importance of ancestors, my own worship of my ancestors, I know my history and am fascinated by the continued study of Africa, present and postcolonial times, that it’s important to make that connection to the continent, because it’s where I’m from, it’s where my ancestors are from and — I don’t want to dis anyone — but it’s not posturing when I’m seeking knowledge,” he says, explaining the foundation of his poetry.
“I feel rooted in my ancestry, so Africa cannot be avoided or escaped. To be able to understand and navigate through Western civilization, it’s ultimately important having that knowledge of who I am. It’s not just a red, black and green flag or a black fist raised in the air — it’s more. It’s having an understanding and appreciation of who Haile Selassie is beyond Rastafari (his earlier name), his importance to African freedom thinking, and studying everything from pastoral systems to the mysteries of Egypt. I can write from and speak of that place because I’m in constant pursuit of that knowledge.”
In a blistering poem titled “hyphen,” Lansana makes his case: “this hyphen a clever trickster/ providing certain inalienable rights/ to brand names and/ a false sense of security . . . /america, america/ the bastard stepchild/ is afraid of her children . . . /we are/ afrikans, we/ raise afrikans, we rise afrikans/ and knock the hyphen unconscious.”
“I’m a firm believer in genetic memory — I’m not sure we can experience a conscious racial memory, but I do believe we are linked to the people who came before us,” he explains. “In my belief system, we are linked all the way back to the creator, to everyone who paved the way. And in that sense we are all African, there can be no other conclusion.”
For Lansana, the connection is a highly spiritual one, the writing only a manifestation. But he knows his work is also unavoidably viewed as political.
“The thing is that, in America, all black literature is political in the sense that most of it is written from a place of being oppressed, and it’s attempting to enlighten the specific plight of African-Americans and change,” he says. “But I think — I hope — I can move people to think instead of telling them what to think, which is what it’s really all about.”
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Last year, Dolores Wilber stunned audiences with “Jerksnatch,” a performance meditation on masculinity. Now she’s at it again, this time taking on the perspective of a 12-year-old boy examining his experiences in the world of men.
“Getalong little doggie” combines music, text, projected film, movement and live video. Wilber directs longtime collaborator Michael Stumm, formerly of the Wooster Group; Murray McKay, a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and 12-year-old Kevin Simonds, a student at Franklin Fine Arts Academy. It’s this weekend only.
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the facts
Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., “Getalong little doggie” by Dolores Wilber, Links Hall Studio, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave. $10. Call 773-281-0824 for more information.
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., book release party for Quraysh Ali Lansana, Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St. $7, $5 for students. Call 773 296-1108, ext. 18, for more information.